Love and Loyalty
by calliope821
Summary: Love could be divided, but loyalty could not. She would have to choose. Kaldur/Artemis. A two-shot.
1. Part One

**A/N: Even though the Spitfire pairing is my favorite, I thought this relationship could work for a number of reasons, which is why I'm writing this. (Plus I was having weird dreams about it last night). Please note that this scribble has absolutely nothing to do with my other YJ story Fallen Heroes- though if I ever get around to finishing that one you may see flashes of this pairing in the sequel. **

**My first complete story! Yay! Enjoy; and if you do enjoy it (or even if you don't), Review!**

Her emotions would be her undoing.

That's what her father said to her. Screamed at her, whenever she let him see any sign that she actually cared about her teammates. Whenever she failed to please him. To him, it was just another job, no emotional attachment necessary. So why did she insist on complicating things by being so _human _about it?

He didn't understand. That's what she'd scream back at him—and she'd get a hard slap across the face for it. The kind of slap that sent her crashing into the wall. No emotion, he'd say. No personal involvement. Get the job done.

Maybe he was right. But how could he be right about something he didn't understand?

Her father was only loyal to one person: Himself. Whatever he said about 'a greater cause', or about his employers, the only person he looked out for was good old number one. There were no other numbers; not Artemis, and not her mother. They didn't matter, didn't deserve his loyalty.

But Artemis was different. She was loyal to him, though more often than not she didn't know why. Deep down (though she would never admit it to anyone, least of all herself) she admired him; he was determined, strong, focused—qualities she had inherited. She owed him; he had taught her, trained her, made her who she was (and, for the most part, she liked who she had become. Mostly). And, despite what she stubbornly insisted to herself, she did love him. He was her father, her blood. She couldn't escape it.

_Is that why this is so hard? _She wondered. Because she had more than one loyalty now, and if she kept going like this she knew that someday soon she would have to choose. And if she waited, put off the choice, then it would only get harder. How do you decide where your loyalties lie?

She had so many more reasons to be loyal to her teammates. They had accepted her. They trusted her, never suspected she might not be who they thought she was. M'gann had claimed her as a sister. Wally, albeit after much pride-swallowing, had come to treat her like one of the team even though their personalities still clashed. Robin and Conner had never questioned her right to be there; Conner was always a little distant, but it was just his way. And Kaldur…

_You can't think about him that way, _she told herself. But she couldn't stop thinking about him. He was so mature, so sure and calm, that his presence was like a breath of fresh air compared to Wally's constant sarcasm and Conner's angst and Megan's naïveté. She wasn't sure just when she had started falling for him—_Listen to yourself, Artemis! You sound like some silly girl from a teen drama show. _But it was true; she couldn't be around him without feeling the fluttering in her stomach, she blushed whenever he looked at her, and she thought about him all the time.

_I can't do this anymore! _She wanted to scream—feeling torn between her loyalty to her father and her feelings for Kaldur, feelings that she so badly wanted him to know and return. She would have to choose, soon, and the thought made her feel sick because it was always _there,_ hovering over her like an ominous, dark shadow. A constant reminder of her legacy.

She wanted to tell him, to lay everything bare. She wanted to see the look in his eyes when she told him she was the mole, the spy, the double agent. There would be surprise there, yes, and mistrust, and maybe a little bit of disbelief. But there would also be compassion. He would understand.

She knew he would. Because she knew the secret about his father.

They were not so different, really; he too knew what it was like to feel torn between kin and comrade. She was in deeper than he was, maybe, but he knew how it felt. He was the only one who could understand what this felt like.

_He'll still blame you, _a nasty voice always said, darkly with an awful ring of truth. _Why wouldn't he? You don't mean anything special to him the way he does to you. You're just another teammate, and if he knew, he would never trust you again. Never love you._

She wouldn't tell him. Not yet. The last thing she wanted to do was hurt him. She knew waiting would only make it worse, that it was inevitable, but she couldn't bring herself to do it, because if she did he wouldn't even give her a chance… and she wanted him so badly it _hurt_…

Her father said that her emotions would be her undoing. But maybe they could save her; when the time came to choose, she would choose him over her father, lay her life in his hands and trust him to protect her. Love could be divided, but loyalty could not; so she would give them both to him and just hope that someday he would return them.


	2. Part Two

It did not take long for Kaldur to figure out who the spy was. He had known for some time. His conscience nagged at him constantly, telling him he needed to do something about it, report her to the League. Their team was supposed to be covert, and every minute they operated with a spy in their midst was another minute they risked total exposure, another secret, more information placed in enemy hands.

But he could not give her away; he did not think he could bear to see her shamed before her teammates. Her friends, because that was what they were to her now. He could tell.

They were kindred spirits, he thought, more alike than she knew or than he ever would have guessed. He understood her—and what was more, he knew she was in danger every second of her life when she lived with such divided loyalty. If she was exposed, she would not be so quickly forgiven. If he exposed her, it would be like painting a big red target on her back. She would not last a day.

_I cannot do that to her._

He had tried to ignore his feelings for her, tried to pass them off for the same kind of friendship he felt for the others. But it was more than that, and eventually he had not been able to deny it any longer. He was in love with her.

He had not thought so at first; after all, it was still too soon after Tula for him to be sure about what he was feeling. But now he knew it, and wondered if—hoped that—she had any feelings for him.

_That is not the priority at hand, _he reminded himself. _She is in danger, and I can help her. I can protect her. Later, perhaps… later, when all of this is set right, I will tell her. _One thing was sure: as long as she had his love, she would have his loyalty. He would not let her down, even if she did not know his feelings for her. He would not let anything or anyone hurt her—even if it meant standing between her and her own father.

Love could be divided, but loyalty could not. She would have to choose sooner or later—so, he decided, he would be there when the time came, to help her make the right choice.


End file.
